A French woman got more than she bargained for when she tucked into a piece of Christmas cake.
The 72-year-old had unwittingly swallowed a spiky axe-shaped toy on the cake - which then perforated her small intestine.
The woman turned up at the emergency department of a Paris hospital after suffering pain around her belly button for three days, according to a case report in the New England Journal of Medicine.

More than a mouthful: A 72-year-old women unwittingly swallowed a spiky axe-shaped toy on a cake - which then perforated her small intestine

She had vomited once, had a temperature of 38°C and tenderness on the right side of the abdomen.
Blood tests showed very high levels of inflammation in her body (due to the foreign object).
After undergoing a CT scan of her abdomen at the Assistance Publique–Hôpitaux de Paris, doctors discovered damage to the mesentery, which connects parts of the small intestine to the back wall of the abdomen.

 

But the scan also revealed an axe-shaped foreign body perforating part of the woman's duodenum - the highest part of the small intestine.
Surgery to explore the woman's abdominal cavity led to doctors removing the green 2cm-long axe.
The patient then reported that she had eaten a Christmas cake seven days days earlier, and the axe had been a decoration on it.

The woman turned up at the emergency department of a Paris hospital after suffering pain around her belly button for three days. She also had pain in her side and had vomited

A scan revealed an axe-shaped foreign body perforating part of the woman's duodenum - the highest part of the small intestine. She then had surgery to remove the green 2cm-long toy (pictured between the surgical instrument)

A perforated duodenum is a rare, life threatening injury, usually associated with blunt abdominal trauma such as this.
The perforation was repaired with sutures, and the patient recovered and was discharged after 10 days.

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